Singapore SPACs need to go hunting in India, Indonesia for promising firms

Singapore has seen just three initial public offerings this year, garnering less than $250 million.

Poor man’s private equity or private equity’s poor cousin? Blank-check companies, which will soon be arriving in Singapore, could easily fall in one or the other group, depending on the quality of their early sponsors.

Celebrities need not apply. Serena Williams or A-Rod won’t be luring Indonesian travel booking website Traveloka or Vietnamese gaming firm VNG Corp. to Singapore. And that’s the most important thing. Without exciting startups from Southeast and South Asia--those that might otherwise chase U.S. listings--the city-state will struggle to make a real asset class out of special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.

Rather than glamorous backers,